We didn’t really know what we wanted to do, but we thought it’ll be good to take a day tour, to see a traditional Sasak Village (Sasak are indigenous people of the island of Lombok), to go to the foot of Mount Rinjani.

While at breakfast, Daddy went out to a tour centre across the road from Jeeva Klui (just a small shed, but there’s car/motorbike rental and tour organising operated from there). We met with a driver we befriended at the airport on the day we arrived, he was picking up someone from Jeeva Klui. He suggested we rent a car for half a day to start off (~USD30/half day) and if we exceeded the 6hr we can always extend to a full day rental (~USD40/full day). As he was busy the day, he recommended his colleague.

So a plan was set. Herlan, his colleague, would pick us up at 11am.

Of course, while all these were being planned, the girls were at the pool, swimming, playing games, chatting, and…

Jumping..

My favourite shot. The 2 of them jumping together!

Herlan arrived on the dot. We wanted to go to Mount Rinjani, but it was too late since just the driving itself will take some time (and there’s trekking to be done too). Since we wanted to see a Sasak Village, he suggested driving South, on the way, we could stop at the Pottery and Weaving Village.

Thus began a typical Lombok day tour.

1st stop, is Banyumulek, the pottery village of Lombok, about 7km away from Mataram. The girls had a chance to try their hands on making some pottery.

Zara made a cup

Zaria of all things, made a snake! (Do you know how difficult it was to pack the snake to prevent it from breaking in the luggage?)

I wanted to buy 4 earthen mini casseroles with lids, they only have 1 with lid, and they couldn’t find lids that were perfect fit for the other casseroles I’d picked out, so I ended up didn’t buy anything.

After Banyumulek, we headed towards Sukarara, the weaving village, through villages and narrow roads.

We were attracted by corns drying at the road side by locals.

And we saw a lady removing corn kernels the traditional way. They were corns from her farm, and she would send the kernels later to be milled into flour.

As it was closed to lunch time, and we were no where near any tourist spot, we broke for lunch at a decent looking local warung. This is my USD1.2 lunch, Nasi Campur (Indonesian : Mixed rice), absolutely delicious!

Girls have rice with fried eggs; and Daddy had something similar like mine with salted eggs; (Remember if you ever go to Lombok, tried their salted eggs or buy them back as souvenirs. They are very tasty!). We had a few bottles of Teh Botol, a few packs of local fish crackers/keropok, and with Herlan’s lunch included, it was about USD7. Our cheapest meal in Lombok.

Next stop, Sukarara. We went to a village co-orp, and at the shop front, looms were placed with women doing a demonstration of how weaving is done.

I made an obligatory purchase, 2 small scarves. If you asked me, I think it was a waste of time going to Banyumulek, and Sukarara, unless you were planning to buy potteries or sarongs.

Besides bemos (converted passenger-carrying minivans), cidomo (horse-drawn cart) is another popular means of transport for locals. We spotted one ferrying school children home near Sukarara.

After Sukarara, we went to Sade, one of the most frequented traditional Sasak village in Lombok, villagers here disregard their modernising surroundings and continue to live in the old traditional way.

A guide immediately came forward and took us around upon our arrival.

The Sasak-style roof, which is symbol of Lombok architecture

Guess what the roof is used for? It’s to store grains from previous harvest (that’s why the height and the width of the roof).

There’s a Sasak ‘show-house’ for visitors, and we took a look.

Zaria coming down from the kitchen and second bed room

The lower floor where the main living room and master bedroom is

Due to tourism, the whole village was kind of like a souvenir market. Every house along the main lane (that tourist pass) has some souvenirs to sell to visitors.

There are back lanes where we could see people moving about doing their daily chores, and the real living condition.

A used kettle in the kitchen

A little girl.

Rice being dried (which would be turned into rice snack later) infested with flies.

Maybe it’s just me, I didn’t think it was worth the trouble visiting Sade, or Banyumule and Sukarara . We could have spent the time visiting other beautiful beaches.

We talked about Lombok Coffee in the car and how nice it is, especially the ones served in Jeeva Beloam. Herlan, our driver, told us his grandma grinds her own coffee and he has some at home, and invited us over to his place for coffee.

On our way there, we saw a Lombok wedding procession.

Herlan’s coffee was indeed very very aromatic and nice. I was eager to buy some home, so Herlan brought us to Kebon Roek Traditional Market, which runs in the morning, as well as in the evening, where locals get their groceries, and fresh produce from. That was the highlight of the day, at least to me.

Lots of cidomos outside the market waiting for pessangers

All kinds of snack were sold. Peanut cake being made fresh.

Vendors selling their produce on the floor.

Dry grocer

One of the vendors’ old weighing scale

Tofu and Tempe (one of my favourite food) seller

Basket load of Lombok tomatoes

Vegetable seller

Seafood seller.

Steamed mackerel for sale.

Fresh mackerel for sale.

Fish seller.

Coconut for sale

Fresh herbs and spice seller.

I bought some coffee powder, pepper corns from the market, and also a pastel and mortar for sambal. I was happy.

When in Lombok, one of the dishes you shouldn’t miss is Ayam Taliwang, a Lombok specialty of kampung (free range) chicken seasoned with special spices, and then either grilled or deep fried. I tried it at Jeeva Beloam, and didn’t really like it because the chicken used was wild chicken and it has a very strong ‘game’ taste.

Herlan brought us to Taliwang Irama at Mataram, a favourite among Indonesians. A simple restaurant, with greasy floor, stained table, filled with Indonesian tourists. Although no ambiance, the food served there was great! We ordered a chicken each, the girls wanted theirs fried, we ordered ours grilled; we added honey prawns, tempe (the best), and gado-gado to complete the meal. Herlan ate with us.

The chicken, very well seasoned and delicious!!

After dinner we headed back to the hotel. On the way back, we passed Senggigi town, many hawkers were set up at the road side selling BBQ and steam corns. Seems the locals like snacking on this, while they sat at the beach to relax.

Back at the hotel, Zaria decided to do some drawing before we go to the beach to have the extra Ayam Taliwang we packed home.

The chicken was so good, Zaria finished most of it (her 2nd chicken).

We just sat by the beach, have our chicken, chi-chatted and recalled all the things we’d done in Lombok.